Contents

Entrance to the Temple

The entrance to the Temple

The dungeon is located at the bottom of Lake Hylia, and as such, it is thought by many to be the very same Water Temple seen in Ocarina of Time. Link can only gain access to it after both acquiring the Zora Armor in Kakariko Village and purchasing some Water Bombs, as the entrance itself is blocked by a boulder.

Themes and Navigation

The temple is based around water and seems to be a spiritual successor to the Water Temple of Ocarina of Time, but instead of level manipulation, the dungeon's functionality is actually based on the transport of water from its sources to dried rooms, and would hence be more closely linked to the Swamp Palace from A Link to the Past; notably, several rooms contain large ancient gears and waterwheels, which, albeit not to the same extent as the complex machinery in the Goron Mines, seem to show an advancement in technology since the events of Ocarina of Time.

This temple's greatest feature is its rotating central staircase, which must be manipulated to move the bodies of water in the dungeon. Using different handles and mechanisms, Link must bring the flow of water to move waterwheels and platforms to get deeper into the temple. Link's main goal is to get the water level in the rotating central staircase room high enough to reach the boss door; during the exploration, he also must frequently shoot Bomb Arrows to bring down some rock formations on the ceilings, so that he can climb up to some spots.[2] The item Link receives in this temple is the Clawshot, a highly upgraded version of the Hookshot, needed to reach to otherwise inaccessible places. It is acquired after defeating the mini-boss, the Deku Toad.

The map of the Lakebed Temple.

In terms of structure, the Lakebed Temple resembles the Fire Temple from Ocarina of Time, having multiple floors (more so than in the original Water Temple) and the highest rooms being parallel to each other, as if the two main sides of the temple (west and east) were intended to have a symmetry. A notable difference, in comparison to the aforementioned Fire Temple, is that Link has to fully explore both sides to clear the dungeon, whereas the Eastern highest-end rooms of the Fire Temple are optional.

The final boss is Morpheel, a giant eel-like creature with eight tentacles and a single eye that can travel freely between them. Upon clearing the dungeon, Link receives the third and final Fused Shadow and another Heart Container.[3] The boss is found after Link descends through a long shaft downwards leading to the battle arena, in a similar way to the boss room of the Great Bay Temple in Majora's Mask, although the Lakebed Temple has to be swam down to, while Link merely falls down the Great Bay Temple with a platform at the bottom.

Minor Enemies and Traps

Trivia

A little used strategy within the temple is to, after obtaining the Big Key, Clawshot up to the top of the main hub's chandelier and carefully drop down onto the center platform which houses the chamber to the boss. Doing this will eliminate the need to raise the water levels a second time and can reduce time spent inside the temple.

When Link speaks to Midna, she initially admires the beauty of the dungeon and considers the place to be better than Goron Mines; however, after some time, she changes her mind and complains about the complexity of the temple.[4][5][6] This may be a reference to the fact that previous water dungeons in the series were similarly complex in structure or in the need of manipulating water.

It is possible to perform a boss key skip for the Lakebed Temple, as the boss door itself doesn't actually lead directly to the boss chamber (Link must drop down a hole past the door). This is the only case in Twilight Princess in which this is possible.

References

↑"The place beyond this rock is sacred to my people. It was once called the Zora Temple." — Zora (Twilight Princess)

↑"Whoa! Don't you think you ought to knock down those stalactites hanging off the ceiling first? They don't look to be very stable. I'd bet they'd break pretty easily if you
hit them with enough force, don't you think?" — Midna (Twilight Princess)

↑"There it is! The last Fused Shadow... I'll just take that, thanks! Now, don't resent me for all I've put you through. I NEED this thing!" — Midna (Twilight Princess)